By Alicia Lafuente

Last week, the Bali Conference was closed with agreements that, even if they are considered as insufficient by some sectors, at the same time they are historical agreements. On the one hand, the participation of countries that were not present in Kyoto, such as the United States, is noteworthy; but also there are countries that in the future will play a very important role in the global energy scenario, like China and India. On the other hand, funds for mitigation of the negative effects of global warming in the emerging countries, which undoubtedly will be the most vulnerable ones, are beginning to be specified. But probably the most important result of this Conference is the acceptance, from the participant countries in the Summit, of the IV Report of the IPCC as the most important scientific document on Climate Change written up to now. And this also means assuming the need that industrialised countries reduce by 2020 our CO2 emissions between 25 and 40% in relation to the levels of 1990.

In this sense, the jointly-owned photovoltaic projects promoted by deSOLaSOL have an important impact. It is not only about generating energy in a cleaner way, and thus not contributing to the increase of the greenhouse effect, but it is also about citizenship participation in an issue that is fundamental, and also about the creation of social fabric, fostering energy generation democratization and shared responsibility.

For more information about the project, visit our website www.desolasol.org

By María de Pablo

Desolasol project aims at increasing of renewable energy sources “democratization” and their decentralized usage at a local level, through the promotion and supporting of joint investment in grid-connected photovoltaic plants across Europe.

It is necessary to transfer the know-how of the successful experiences of jointly owned PV plants to the potential small investors in order to bring renewable energy closer to the citizens. Our project intends to identify the successful experiences in order to extract conclusions and defining the “best practices” of joint owned PV plants. Dissemination of this “best practices” will we carry out in the next phase of our project.

That it is the reason why at this moment of project development we are making a call for successful projects in the European Union countries.

So in the case you know a PV experience that contributes to improve the access to PV projects to citizens in general, go to www.desolasol.org/en/concurso/contact.asp to submit your some information about these PV projects, explaining us briefly the main points, regarding mostly technical aspects, administrative issues, legal framework and financing aspect, as well as your contacts details.

We will contact you and some of the projects will be included as best practices in deSolaSol reports and events, or will be showed-cased on the project web page: www.desolasol.org

For further information you could also contact us at the e-mail contacto@desolasol.org.

Thank you very much for your collaboration.

1. Best practices are the best marketing for new projects and clients

By Georg Hille, ecovision GmbH&Co

Our project “ecovision Solarfonds GmbH&Co. KG Stuttgarter Schulen” installed jointly-owned PV-plants on five schools in Stuttgart, the capital of the German federal State of Baden-Württemberg. Together 76 limited partners, who invested € 7500 in  average, realised the installation of 309 kWp with a total equity share of 33%.

These limited partners, our clients, are strongly impressed by the good performance of these PV-plants. During the installation and operation we are investing a lot in quality management. Our plants are monitored and visualized online by one of the leading institutions in the areas, the Fraunhofer ISE, Freiburg, Germany. Consequently, we are outperforming our profit forecast, currently by more than 10%. We have been selected as one of the best performers by the leading German PV magazine Photon.

The impacts are obvious: Our clients become “repeater” with higher investments in every new project.

The banks are offering best rate for credits (the German federal bank KfW allows interest rates according to a ranking of the clients)

We can convince our clients much easier to join our projects with “moderate” return on investment instead of  mirrifinish leaflets offering high profit – at low probability.

And last but not least we have a comfortable relationship with our clients for the 20 years of project lifetime.

2. “Huerta Solar de GFM”. Villa Don Fadrique, (Toledo), España

By María de Pablo

The GEA group was founded in 2002, for the project development and promotion in the field of the renewable energies, specially photovoltaic energy.

In 2005, this group started to build the PV plant Villa 1, in Villa Don Fabrique, Toledo, where the investment on electric generation through photovoltaic technology is being strongly promoted. This fact is contributing to an important development at local level of the area.

The PV plant is located on a surface of approximately 6 Ha and houses the installations of more than 30 owners, most of them neighbours of Fadrique. Each owner has acquired installations of different power, in a range between 5 and 100 kW, depending on his/her economic possibilities. Solar panels of different technologies (crystalline or thin film; on fixed structures or with tracking system) have been installed, in order to analyse which is the optima configuration according to the area characteristics, as irradiation and temperature.

At the moment, the PV plant has a power of approximately 500kW, and the prevision is to enlarge it up to 800 kW in the next months.

Finally, it’s important to underline that, during the working period of the PV plant, the production has overcome the forecast, reaching the 2020 equivalent hours (kWh/kWp).

The annual production of the PV plant Villa de Don Fadrique is approximately 1.710.000 kWh per year, equal to the electricity consumption of about 500 homes, and it avoids the emission of more than 1.100 ton of CO2 and 2.350 kg of SO2 to the atmosphere.

3. Energies Citoyennes de la Weiss, Francia.

By Angela Saade

La Weiss project started in 2002, in a favourable context, counting on the support of local politicians. It’s realised in the Comcom de la Vallée de Kaysersberg (CCVK), which gathers 10 municipalities of the High Rhine.

The ECWeiss association was created in July 2004, inaugurating the project in 2006. The first kWh were produced in May 2007.

In total, the installation, realised on the Wood Museum of Labaroche, occupies a surface of 80 m2.

Since the beginning, the citizenship participation was one of the main objectives of the project, and systematic studies were carried out in this sense. The local Law allows associations to have profit and share up the benefits among its members, if the statutes precise it clearly, so the statutes were drawn up to avoid problems in this sense. The parts are repaid and the benefits shared up after amortization. A contract is realised between the association and the investors.

The total cost of the installation was of 63000 €, and one third was contributed by citizens, in 200 parts of 100 €, being the total cost of 7900 €/kWp. The rest of the capital was contributed by ADEME, the Alsace Region and Labaroche.

The communication was done essentially face to face, but also through local media and the participation in fairs and congresses.

At the moment, there are numerous applications from potential investors and proposals of projects, so the development of new projects is being considered.

By Cristina Daniel

According to the considered in the Portuguese Decree-Law nº 312/2001, 10th December, the official period for the previous information requests for grid connection for installations from the Independent Electrical System goes from the 1st until the 15th September, every year.

However, this period has been closed since 2005, due to the huge number of requests for grid connection registered and expected until 2008. The General Energy Department prepared a Dispatch, not numbered/2007, 2nd Series, from which it was disseminated an unofficial version, considering the authorization for grid connection to hydroelectrical plants that have recognised utilization title in the hydric domain and Photovoltaic power plants with installed capacity equal or lower than 5 kW, if installed in Schools and as long as the promoters are Private Social Solidarity Institutions (P.S.S.I.) duly recognised and committed to invest all the profits from the energy trade in social solidarity projects.
This Dispatch dates 1st August 2007 and came into force during the period of 1 - 15 September 2007, period for the presentation to the DGEG (Energy and Geology General Directorate) of the requests for grid connection. It is presently closed and it is not sure if the next years it will come into force.

In Portugal, on the second November came into force a new Decree-Law, n.º 363/2007, regarding Microgeneration foreseen for application of a simplified licensing regime (internet) for local grid-connection, low voltage, for small/residential producers based in renewable energy sources (until 1,5 kW – PV and until 2,5 kW – micro wind power).

This Decree-Law creates the Micro-Production Registration System (MRS) that consists in an electronical platform of interaction with the producers, in which it will be possible to perform with the administration all the relationship necessary to implement the activity of the micro-producer. In the licensing part, the old slow and burocratic procedures will be changed into a single action of registration in the Micro-Production Registration System, allowing that any entity that has a contract for electricity purchasing to become a micro-producer. It is also planed the creation of a simplified invoice regime and trading relationship, avoiding the emission of invoices and VAT corrections by private producers. The micro-producer receives or pays through only one transaction, by the net value of the income concerning the produced electric power and the payments referring to the consumed electricity.

According to this regulation, there are two regimes for selling the electrical energy produced by micro-generation units: the general regime - that considers the production up to 5,75 kW power and the supported regime - that considers the production up to 3,68 kW. Anyone who is an energy consumer can be an energy producer, but can only produce and sell energy to the public grid up to half of the installed rate power in their households. This regulation only allows the access to the supported regime in case the building/local where it is installed has, at minimum, 2 m2 of thermal solar panels.

The independent power producers are mainly private. There are already a few cases of collaboration between public and private bodies.

By Angela Saade and Marc Favier

In order to participate in the investment on a PV system, a private person can choose to take part of the promoting enterprise. It’s the most direct way of participation. However, it’s convenient to be aware with the investment marketing, as the public call to saving is strictly regulated by the law, needing a VISA from the AMR (Authority of the Financial Markets).

Other financing types for the citizenship can be advisable, as the creation of an investment fund dedicated to photovoltaic projects. The fund is managed by a specific manager, and gathers all the savings. This system allows to have only one speaker between the promoter enterprise of the PV system and the multiple investors, allowing the savers to invest on a PV project without worrying about the management of the investment. After a certain size, the problem of the public call to savings appears again.

In the case of an association, it might be advisable a loan system, where the structure contracts loans to the private individuals. They are remunerated at a interest rate that doesn’t overcome that of the market, in order to respect the non lucrative character of the association. However, the association isn’t an adapted tool to carry out this type of operation, except for Alsace and Lorraine, where associations have a special status.

In the case of co-property, the investment is direct, without a specially created structure. Then, is the co-owners community who manages the project. It can have a mandate from the owners to take care of the works and administrative procedures.

Other financial structures can be advisable and adaptable depending on the projects.

From	Until	What	Where	Logo / web
16/01/2008	16/01/2008	Photovoltaic Technology Show 2008 Asia	Shenzhen
28/0/2008	01/02/2008	European Union - Sustainable Energy Week 2008 (EUSEW)	Brussels
30/01/2008	30/01/2008	European Renewable Energy Policy Workshop	Brussels
05/02/2008	05/02/2008	Interclima+elec	Paris - Expo Porte de Versaille
25/02/2008	27/02/2008	International Renewable and Conventional Power Generation Week	Valencia

 
See more events on www.desolasol.org/en/noticias/events.asp

By Alicia Lafuente

The 22nd of December, the winter solstice, is the shortest day in the year in the North Hemisphere. In the whole Artic, the sun doesn’t show during the day, while in the Antarctic Polar Circle the sun shines in the sky during 24 hours. This day also indicates the end of the Autumn and the beginning of Winter, and, from now on, days get longer… and the photovoltaic production is increased!

The sun cycles have always fascinated the human being, and multiple cultures host traditions around this date, celebrating the triumph of the sun over the darkness. Also Christmas time, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa coincide with the solstice. In many of the cases, the celebration is accompanied by fire.

In the Roman period, the celebration was the Saturnalia rite, honouring Saturn, the agriculture god, as the agriculture could restart its cycle. The Priestess pronounced the following words: “Tonight is the Solstice night, the longest night of the year. Now darkness triumphs but still, there is some light. Nature breath is held, everything waits, everything sleeps. The Dark King sleeps in every little light. We wait for the dawn when the Big Mother will birth again the sun, with the promise of a new spring. The eternal movement is like this, time never stops, in a circle that envelops everything. We turn the wheel to hold the light. We call the sun of the night womb. So be it.”